BREAKDOWN: The EPIC Battle Between JA & ANT

This was one of the most insane finishes we’ve seen in this year’s playoffs, so let me break down how these 2 final plays were drawn up and also give you a few extra smart plays from last night’s games.
What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it.
First we gotta start with the game tying three.
With KAT being 5/7 from downtown, you know the attention is on him, but on the inbounds, he quickly hands it off to Mclaughlin who can now raise up from three or go inside for a quick 2.
However with the defense watching the ball handler, Mcdaniels goes outside to set a back screen for Edwards who slides to the corner.
As we play it slowly, you see that moments before that happens, Morant knows that the play is for Ant and tries to go there, but it all happens in the blink of an eye, and Edwards got just enough time to let it fly over the great contest from Clark, and knock it down.
Great play call from Chris Finch. And this would have taken it into overtime but you know what happens next.
With 3 guys on the baseline, Anderson clears out and Morant initially goes to set a pick for Jones, but then immediately goes up top and gets a screen himself from Bane.
This was just a slight bump, enough to get Edwards trailing, and as Ja gets the ball, Ant makes a big mistake by trying to go for the steal on the outside, instead of trying to recover inside and be in front of Morant.
So with him out of the play, Ja has a straight line to the basket, a good contest by Vanderbilt but the incredible acrobatic finish by Morant giving Memphis the win and a 3-2 lead in this amazing series so far.
We had a few more interesting plays from the other 2 games, so let’s quickly go through them as well.
On the out of bounds play, initially this could look like something for Oladipo as he starts his motion. But then he stops midway through and screens for Strus, who as he’s coming out of that, has another screener in Adebayo waiting for him. So Strus runs to the corner, fires away and buries it.
And here’s another quick one. Follow Vincent on the inbounds quickly turning and setting a screen for Strus.
You see that Max should curl all the way out here and get the handoff from Bam.
And since the Hawks switch that, look at all that space that now Gabe has to cut to the basket, the bounce pass, and the finish through contact.
Crowder did a similar thing on this play for Johnson, but he didn’t even set the screen, rather slipped it, and cut straight to the rim. And as we let it roll, you see just how open he found himself for the easy 2 points.
Talking about this game, I gotta give a major shoutout to Mikal Bridges, who despite scoring 31 points on 12 for 17 from the field, he did a phenomenal job defensively as you can see on these examples.
Bridges guarded CJ McCollum on 36 plays and held him to 10 points on 3/11 shooting and defended Brandon Ingram for 34 plays, held him to 7 points along with 3 turnovers. Incredible.
On the topic of defense, I also wanted to show you the phenomenal job the Heat did defensively in the final seconds, as they didn’t allow Atlanta to even get off a shot at the end. So Miami wins 4-1 and advances to the second round.
As always, let me know in the comments which one was your favorite. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.